Free-To-Play Games No Longer Need Xbox Live Gold

The plight of console gaming is a dismal one, for which I will never understand. Online gaming is leaking into everything; from simple things like F1 2019 and 2020 needing to connect to a server, all the way to everything Triple-A being a looter-shooter trying to appease both ends of the spectrum, making everyone unhappy in the process. That said, some have been taking the biscuit more than others (Microsoft!), so it might be time to stop. All the while PlayStation & Nintendo have taken a slightly more liberal approach to the online market for longer, but only slightly.

Announced yesterday with an email blast sent out to Xbox users, the Xbox Live Gold system has updated to allow those playing several free-to-play titles something you can download and play without the service. I’ve jokingly referenced to this as “the console tax” as you’ve had to pay Microsoft/Xbox for the honor of playing online of any kind up until this point. What does this mean? You no longer have to pay to play Fortnite, Rocket League, or anything else with those insipid microtransactions. In fact, Microsoft provided a list of all 50 free-to-play games you can download and play without Xbox Live Gold.

Other examples include Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Smite, Roblox, TERA, and other games I have no interest in. Yes, I am being a bit of a negative Nancy about it because I have a personal hatred of online play. Nonetheless, I do think this is a step in the right direction by Microsoft to make Star Trek Online, and other such online games, playable without their subscription service.

This comes with a sweep of changes to the Xbox Live Gold system, which according to Polygon, will open up Party Chat too. Microsoft provides more information via their FAQ, for those that are interested in finding out more directly from the source. Questions still stand on titles that offer a beta-like trial to everyone for full-priced games, such as Marvel’s Avengers, for example. However, these games will still require Xbox Live Gold memberships.